Nearly 190 reindeer perished after falling through thin ice in Finnmark, revealing a lack of proper rescue equipment and the need for better emergency preparedness in reindeer herding communities.

The glaciers in Finnmark, particularly the Øksfjordjøkelen, are melting rapidly, with significant shrinkage observed each year, raising concerns about climate change impacts.

Heavy snowfall and strong blizzards in Romania and Moldova on Sunday left one person dead and hundreds of localities without electricity, as well as forcing the closure of some national roads, authorities said.

The Western Arctic Caribou Herd has been declining for years, and the migration patterns of the animals have been changing. In several locations in Northwest Alaska, caribou have been arriving later and later in the season. Friday last week, people in Kotzebue finally started seeing caribou — hundreds of them ― crossing the Kotzebue Sound north of town, coming from the Noatak riverside. Ice conditions are one of the reasons for the caribou’s late migration, said Thomas Baker, chair of the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.

Bethel Search and Rescue advises against travel on the Kuskokwim River due to dangerous conditions of open water and thin ice identified in their annual aerial survey.

Alaskans are taking advantage of rare ice skating conditions on alpine lakes in Chugach State Park, with hundreds of people hiking into the backcountry to skate on smooth ice in the shadow of iconic peaks.

Erratic temperatures led to the absence of tomcods, severely affecting local fishing.

Several hundred reindeer drowned in Porsanger during their migration from summer to winter pastures, causing significant loss for the district and prompting the local government to offer crisis support to affected reindeer owners.

October flew by leaving us with a couple of light snowfalls. November came around with something slightly more impressive, but it wasn't the same. Mid December decided to make up for all of the snowfalls that we missed all at once, it seems like.

Weather warnings for northern gales and heavy rainfall that swept through the country yesterday expired last night. The weather was accompanied by heavy precipitation, snow or sleet, and widespread winter conditions on the roads.

Hikers should be cautious when hiking the Castner Glacier trail since chunks of ice may fall and the streams and rivers are very fast.

Professional skier Amie Engerbretson is already noticing diminishing snow in her hometown of Lake Tahoe. She didn’t know what to do this past Thanksgiving because she couldn’t ski for the first time since she could remember. “The ski seasons are shrinking, and a lot of times the storms are coming in with more rain,” she says. “I can remember being a little girl with 19-foot snow banks in my front yard. I certainly haven't seen snow banks that high as an adult.”

Fuel shipments normally take place during autumn from departure ports such as Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. However, last fall saw a sudden freeze-up and quickly accumulating sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route, including the Kara Sea. Of the two rescued barges, one contained 7,000 tons of diesel fuel, while the other was loaded with 170 tons of kerosene.

Quickly accumulating sea ice along the Northern Sea Route is creating a potentially critical situation along Russia’s east Arctic coast. For several weeks, a number of ships have been trapped in thick sea ice. Several ships have also been waiting to sail into the area.

It is November, we have snow and we are skiing the Southcentral Alaska backcountry early and in the best conditions in years.

Current sea ice extent in Northern Alaska waters is the highest it’s been since November 2001.

The first event in Lillehammer is in early December, and despite being able to easily prep the hills in the past, Lillehammer athletes must now rely on snow shipped from other parts of Norway.

“It got very cold the day we got there, it got down to like single digits and ice came out of the mountains and rivers and sloughs everywhere,” said Allyn Long, general manager of Alaska Logistics.

Over the past years, ice conditions in late October and early November have allowed extensive shipping along the vast Russian Arctic coast. This year, however, large parts of the remote Arctic waters were already covered by sea ice by late October.